Although I am in principle against foreign government funded outlets aimed at Iranian audiences, I know a lot of bright and talented journalists (many of whom have since quit) who worked with Zamaneh and produced some impressive content. Unfortunately, since such media are by definition agenda-driven--their lofty claims about democracy and free and fair journalism notwithstanding--it was only a matter of time before Zamaneh went the way of US State Department funded Radio Farda and Voice of America.

There is much more that I want to say about Zamaneh and its predecessors, but for now, I just wanted to express my frustration about both the interview with Javednafar and the censorship of the moderator who refused to put my comment, despite the fact that I was polite and merely expressed my disappointment in what is happening to the site. If you look at the site now, the negative comments far outnumber the supportive ones, but I suppose they still wanted to somewhat save face and not show how much they have angered their soon-to-be-former audience.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

I was carrying a sign, and walking my bike, and I'm not the tallest person in the world, so I have plenty of excuses for not taking fabulous photos from today's protests and march from the State Department to the White House and beyond. But I'll share the pictures with you anyway. The turn out was quite big (I would say in the thousands), and considering it is holiday season and DC usually empties out during this time, it was a remarkable turnout. There will be more protests and marches throughout the week, I'll try to attend and to capture better pictures.

Meanwhile, here are snapshots showing the diversity of those who had gathered--people from various ethnic backgrounds, a range of ages, and even differing political ideologies, all speaking out against the horrors in Gaza.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

I, along with a number of other bloggers, have put our names on the following petition (available in English and Persian) expressing concern for Hossein Derakhshan and calling for his release. Needless to say, I have several reservations about the whole thing, not the least of which is that the text is in English. If it were up to me, the text would only be in Persian: it is a letter by Iranian bloggers, addressed to the Iranian authorities, about another fellow Iranian blogger. Why does it need to be in English? Furthermore, portions of what the text says and implies--about what a wonderful role bloggers have, how this arrest is being viewed (by whom?), how great we are for signing this petition--are the kinds of statements that are likely to come under scrutiny, and for good reason. Nonetheless, I think the arguments for signing the petition outweigh my reservations in this case, and I hope that it does more good than harm in resolving the situation. Thanks to all of the people who signed the petition and who took time to iron-out some of their differences. If you would like to sign-on to the petition, please go ahead and do so and republish the statement on your own blogs. Please also leave a comment for any of the original signatories that you have also added your signature. I think we will eventually need a more systematic way to figure out how to aggregate all of the signatories, but I suppose this is a good start for now.

Now here is the actual petition:

We, the undersigned, view the circumstances surrounding the Iranian authorities' arrest of Hossein Derakhshan (hoder.com), one of the most prominent Iranian bloggers, as extremely worrying. Derakhshan's disappearance, detention at an unknown location, lack of access to his family and attorneys, and the authorities' failure to provide clear information about his potential charges is a source of concern for us.

The Iranian blogging community is one of the largest and most vibrant in the world. From ordinary citizens to the President, a diverse and large number of Iranians are engaged in blogging. These bloggers encompass a wide spectrum of views and perspectives, and they play a vital role in open discussions of social, cultural and political affairs.

Unfortunately, in recent years, numerous websites and blogs have been routinely blocked by the authorities, and some bloggers have been harassed or detained. Derakhshan's detention is but the latest episode in this ongoing saga and is being viewed as an attempt to silence and intimidate the blogging community as a whole.

Derakhshan's own position regarding a number of prisoners of conscience in Iran has been a source of contention among the blogging community and has caused many to distance themselves from him. This, however, doesn't change the fact that the freedom of expression is sacred for all not just the ones with whom we agree.

We therefore categorically condemn the circumstances surrounding Derakhshan's arrest and detention and demand his immediate release.

Monday, December 15, 2008

If I had any sketching talent, I would make a Shoes not Bombs sign using the following Food not Bombs logo as inspiration:

Side note: As much as I admire the work of the Food not Bombs folks, from what I remember, their food kind of tastes like shoes anyway, so it is even more appropriate that they would inspire my imaginary logo.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

1. All those "human rights" activists and political "analysts" who have been playing dumb for over a month, justifying why they have not spoken out against Hossein Derakhshan's arrest on the basis of not having confirmation or those who have spread the most vicious lies speculating on where Hossein really is, no longer have many excuses left. Hossein's family has confirmed his arrest and detention at Eshratabad, where he is at the mercy of Saeed Mortazavi. Someone has put together a Persian language website to follow developments in the case and to call for his release, it would be cool if someone could put together an English site as well.

2. I wanted to only write about Hossein quickly, but now that I am here, what is up with the European legislators and courts these days? First, the British parliament invites the likes of Amir-Abbas Fakhravar and others to speak on behalf of Iranian students, and today, Rahman Haj-Ahmadi, a leader of violent Kurdish separatist group PEJAK is scheduled for an event. And last week, an EU court took steps to remove the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from the terror list. In fairness, the MKO are not violent separatists, they've just been accused of supporting such groups and given their long history of fighting against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war and acting as Saddam's henchmen during various periods, I am sure they have been guilty of much more that may never come to light.